As always, our spring trip brought revelations about the world and the world of travel that make it special to visit countries outside the United States. This trip gave us greater understanding of how challenging and invigorating it can be when you travel on your own, often akin to a MASH unit. After our special November trip to Antarctica – via a most enjoyable cruise (rarely our mode of travel but the way one accesses the most isolated and unblemished place on earth), we were back to seeing multiple locations of South America and the Caribbean over the course of 3-1/2 weeks. The trip began with a startle. Slightly more than a week before leaving we learned we must have visas to enter Brazil. The Beautiful Wife scours the travel world to make sure we have all our proper paperwork long before leaving. Brazil had delayed implementing the visa program from April 2024, but it reupped it on Canada, Australia and the U.S. starting April 10th with little fanfare and less preparation. BW jumped into action and sent off the applications using our passport photos. Three days later we got notice our application was rejected. Why? Because you cannot smile in the… Read More

For many years, the left has claimed that the only way to get fair redistricting maps for Congress and the State Legislatures is to create an “independent” redistricting commission, with an equal number of Republicans and Democrats on the commission, which would then draw the legislative and Congressional districts in the state “free of political concerns.” The map would be fair and representative of the population and not “gerrymandered.” The state would enter into political nirvana with districts drawn with an eye to the needs of the communities that the districts represent, and not bow to the politicians in power that are drawing the maps for their own interests. That’s the theory anyway.

Just a little history. The Constitution put the right to draw Congressional districts in the hands of state legislators. In Federalist No. 45, James Madison explains why. Madison says that members of Congress will be required, at least once every ten years, to rely on state legislators to protect their Congressional seat, thereby making Members of Congress somewhat reliant and responsive to state legislators. As a former state… Read More

There is likely no bigger issue in America today than our health care system. The costs have exploded, and the results are not what we would like for that money spent. Our government is picking up a large portion of the cost with a significant debate as to how we can control those seemingly out-of-control amounts. Dr. Jeffrey Singer addresses some of those issues in his new book, Your Body, Your Health Care. Singer is a practicing physician who has been a general surgeon in Arizona for 35 years. He has not only thought about the issues of the healthcare system but has dealt with them close up and in person. Whereas many people who author books like this have theorized about the issues, Dr. Singer has confronted them first-hand. I asked him what prompted him to write his book – what motivated him. He stated ”I noticed that while all of the public policy analysis I conduct at the Cato Institute focuses on utilitarian and economic arguments, a common philosophical insight that informs all of my work is the presumption of liberty, the presumption of autonomy. This classical liberal insight asserts that all humans have inherent rights;… Read More

I have read a multitude of articles and opinion pieces on the victory of Zohran Mamdani in the Democrat primary election for mayor of New York City. Many have been informative and insightful but have not addressed some essential points. This column is meant to do that. This happening is a manifestation of the education system manipulating the minds of their targets – the students. That trend is delineated in Christopher Rufo’s terrific book, America’s Cultural Revolution. The Left took control of the education system and altered the minds of the last two generations. They made them into environmental zealots with little science behind what they promoted, and they turned them into people willing to vote for a person who calls himself a ”socialist” who tells these people he will give them many free things. That education system never taught them that the form of government Mamdani wants has never worked anywhere. It always ends with people’s rights being destroyed and failure. Telling them that would be a buzz kill so the Leftist professors just groom their students and leave them to suffer the consequences while the… Read More

Those who are regular readers of this column know I believe there was divine intervention that so many great men with such immense wisdom and bravery were in one place at the time of our country’s formation. I was reminded of that on a recent trip to Washington D.C. The Beautiful Wife and I had not been to DC for 17 years, since the end of my term as a member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. It was time for a refresher course due to the long absence even though we had been countless times before. We were invited at the behest of our special friend Keith Sonderling, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Labor. He runs the day-to-day operations of the department. He and his wonderful staff arranged special tours for us, and we threw in some other requests of our own.

One of the must-see places for us was the Capital Jewish Museum. It opened in 2023 and recently became well known but for all wrong reasons. That is because two wonderful young Jews, Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lishinsky, were murdered in front of the building while leaving an event. I posed for a photo wearing my Jewish Lives Matter shirt right next to a make-shift memorial for them.… Read More

by Ron Nehring

Citing his issues with the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed in Congress last week, Elon Musk has threatened to form a new third party to rival the Republicans and Democrats for control of Washington.

Legislating is the work of compromise, as intended by the founding fathers. Those compromises inevitably upset some, and on rare occasion it leads to threats to form a third party. Yet, a quick review of the history of those efforts should provide Mr. Musk with a dose of caution.

No successful political party in America has ever been founded by a single figure, even one with vast resources like Mr. Musk.

The most recent example of this historical truism was the 1992 attempt by Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot to turn his independent campaign for president into a third party under the banner of United We Stand America. Interestingly, Mr. Perot’s complaints, like Mr. Musk’s, primarily concerned spending and the national debt, and was aimed largely at Republicans.

Today, few can recall UWSA and Mr. Perot has faded into history.

America’s national debt and federal spending… Read More

Following up on the failure of the Homeless Industrial Complex in Los Angeles where I stated the government dysfunction was worse at the California state government level, I wrote about the chicanery of Ricardo Lara, the Insurance Commissioner. That was not the end of it as another constitutional officeholder who wants to be the next governor has a different problem, but just as serious. This problem is a major conflict of interest that allows her to profit from her involvement in state government. Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis (EK) is not exactly a household name. The good part about EK is that she worked in the private sector, a rare attribute for a Democrat in Sacramento. After serving as Ambassador to Hungary under President Obama, she later ran for Lt Governor as her first elected office and won. Traditionally no one wants the position except for obscure politicians because there is not much to do unless the Governor leaves the state or dies. EK has bigger plans. After winning the election in 2018, she ran again in 2022 eclipsing the competition of no name opponents. Then her true plans manifested very quickly as she soon launched her campaign to… Read More

Ronald Reagan was very fond of simple solutions, simple answers. That was what made him such a great communicator. People understood what he was telling them. My favorite statement of his is written in beautiful calligraphy and hung in my office. Regarding the Soviet Union, he stated “My idea of American policy is simple, and some would say simplistic. It is this: We win, they lose. What do you think of that? On the subject of simple solutions, I have one for our ridiculously bloated government benefit programs. “Time limits.” We establish programs like food stamps (SNAP), Medicaid, SSI Disability — even regular Social Security — and we have meager checks on whether the person is worthy of still receiving the benefits or whether they are even alive. Our elected officials including many Republican members of Congress are “gutless wonders” regarding capping these programs. Let’s take it out of their hands, automatically terminate the benefits after a year or some other time limit, and have the recipient reapply. A perfect example of how things are out of control is not even being debated in Congress. It is regarding home… Read More